Tolga Mayor asks brothers for forgiveness

Given apology: Magnus (t.r.), Lars Peder (middle), and Arvid (t.l.) Holøyen were placed under guard against their will by a doctor who had never met them. Photo: VG / Krister Sørbø

Tolga Mayor gives brothers an unreserved apology

Mayor Ragnhild Aashaug in Tolga gives an unreserved apology to the three brothers in Tolga who got the wrong diagnosis and was placed under supervision.

 

Aashaug visited the Holøyen family along with deputy Mayor Leif Vingelen on Sunday, writes VG.

There she apologized to the three brothers Arvid, Lars Peder and Magnus Holøyen and their mother for what happened when the brothers were mistakenly labelled as mentally retarded and subsequently, against their will, was placed under supervision by the Tolga municipality.

VG has disclosed that this triggered substantially more aid to the municipality from the Norwegian authorities.

– I think it was very good that she came home to mom and said that she is sorry. None of us had really counted on that, says Magnus Holøyen to VG.

Press statement

After the two-hour meeting with the family, Aashaug issued a press release.

– After a meeting with the three brothers Holøyen and Liv Melgård, the Mayor will give an unreserved apology on the grounds that the Tolga municipality has placed the brothers in this situation, she writes in the statement.

Last week, the Mayor told NRK that she could not apologise “before we know what to apologise for” and pointed to the ongoing review of the matter

 

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today